And—okay, I confess. I love goat cheese because I love wine. Or rather, because I love acidic wine, wine in which the fruit and floral and herbal and earthy notes are carried within a crystalline armature that focuses and refreshes the mind. Goat cheese needs that kind of wine: fresh, sharp, radiant.

Goat cheeses also always seem lighter, somehow, than their cow’s milk cousins, more tangy and racy. It’s true that in most breeds of goat, the doe will give milk with less dissolved solids than cow’s milk has, plus natural homogeneity that makes it more digestible. And although it’s more alkaline, too, abundant fatty acids—caproic, caprylic, and capric, from the Latin capra, goat—make it taste tart.

The French call it chèvre (in another nod to Latin roots), and although gorgeous goat cheeses are made throughout the world—including some virtually in my backyard—France is the ancestral homeland of many of the New World styles, and so it is to France we turn for the prototypes.

Below are notes on six gorgeous French goat cheeses, plus a suggested wine to pair with each. A French wine, naturellement.

The Cheeses

Florette

Florette is a mild cheese from the Rhône-Alpes with a bloomy rind and a creamy, Brie-like texture. Its nutty aroma also suggests some sweetness, almost like pineapple or fresh pumpkin. There’s little hint of mushroom or cave, and the acidity is very modest. What dominates is the cheese’s buttery flavor, springy, edible rind, and smooth, very rich paste. This cheese is the least goaty of the lineup; Florette is the goat cheese for people who think they don’t like goat cheese.

Wine Pairing: Crémant d’Alsace, Crémont de Loire, or Champagne. Treat this cheese like Brie or Camembert, serving it with sparkling wine to wake you up after each rich bite. Brut wines work beautifully, but a fizzy wine with some sweetness—the Sec and Demi-Sec styles—can help balance the salt.

Crottin

I first tasted Crottin on my honeymoon (locally, lune de miel) in the northern Rhône. The cheese is a staple of central France and strikes a great balance between tanginess and creaminess. Its crinkled bloomy rind wraps a thin, delicately riper inner rind and a dense, creamy-chalky center. Only mildly goaty, it has a bloomy scent like fresh mushrooms, and its pungent snap mid-palate and medium saltiness balance an acidic finish. Overall it’s an incredibly versatile cheese; also try Crottin de Chavignol, from the central Loire.

Wine pairing: Condrieu, partly because this wine and this cheese grew up together in the northern Rhône, but mostly because the wine’s dazzling acidity and flavors of apricot and yellow peach marry gloriously with the cheese’s piquant creaminess to yield another impression entirely: bliss.

Chabichou du Poitou PDO

I cannot get enough of this cheese—its texture haunts me. Produced in the Poitou-Charentes region in the Loire, the heart of Franch goat breeding, this cheese is protected under France’s appellation laws (which also regulate wine and other farmhouse products), hence its Protected Designation of Origin suffix. Firmer and taller than Crottin, Chabichou has a slightly drier paste and a thicker layer of creamy ripeness just under its crinkly rind. Its aroma is assertively goaty and redolent of fresh mushrooms, but the body springs open with flavors of hazelnuts, yellow fruits, and salt. Its enormously satisfying, chewy texture allows you to savor languorously this bloom of flavors and bright, herbaceous finish.

Wine pairing:Vouvray, because Chenin Blanc is likewise native to the Loire, and is a wine whose notes of tart apple, honey, nut, and fig echo the foods you might serve alongside this cheese. The sweeter styles of Vouvray—from Demi-Sec through Moelleux and Doux—work well here, too.

Tomme de Chèvre Bethmale

Goat’s milk is used to make Tomme (also called Tome) all over France—in Provence, Rhône-Alpes, the Loire. This one’s from the Midi-Pyrénées, and, typical of washed-rind cheeses, it is pressed and aged to create a firm, elastic paste riddled with tiny holes. The rind is edible and delivers a slight salty crunch, and the flavor is mild and buttery with notes of almond and sweetgrass. This is an incredibly versatile cheese, great at room temperature and suitable for melting, too.

Wine pairing: A Cahors or Sant-Mont from the region is a natural choice for a cow’s milk Tomme, but for the goat version I suggest Beaujolais. Gamay’s gentle berry fruits and supple structure balance the cheese’s mellow tang and earthy, grazed-in-the-wilderness freshness.

Bûcheron

This cheese is a study in texture: The nutty, mushroomy outer rind is gently chewy; the ripe inner rind is buttery and rich; and the firm inner paste is chalky and quite tangy, almost citrusy. The variety is charming, giving you options as you dig into the cheese’s decadent center. It’s a very savory cheese that’s also exceptional as chèvre chaud, broiled atop a plank of crusty bread and served with a green salad.

Wine pairing:Picpoul de Pinet. I love Picpoul’s bracing brininess and suggestions of green citrus and Meyer lemon, all of which balance the cheese’s tang and saltiness. Picpoul’s a great option for that salad, too. Another choice: Sancerre. Wines made from Sauvignon Blanc are citrusy with flavors of tart green berries. They’re a go-to pairing for fresh goat cheese, but even though this cheese has a few weeks of affinage, its youthful, tangy center gives it a kicky lift.

Valençay

Valençay is intensely fragrant, its aroma suggesting truffles and earthy sous-bois. Just inside its wrinkled, ash-coated rind, the body has a springy, pleasantly sticky paste. The flavor is very mild with goaty fruit notes. Still, this is the earthiest of these six cheeses, dark and woodsy despite its brilliant white center.

Wine pairing: Pair this with Rhône Valley whites—Côtes du Rhône, Hermitage,Crozes Hermitage, St. Joseph—which are most often a blend of Marsanne, Roussanne, and (sometimes) Viognier. These wines have the substance to stand up to the cheese’s earthiness and the acidity to blend with its bite. Red Côtes du Rhône can work, too, provided it’s Grenache-dominant, viz., juicy but with a touch of earthy splendor.

Valençay is also a PDO cheese, but the French regulations stipulate it must be made with raw milk. A pasteurized version is imported into the U.S. Which means only: Go to France. Eat the cheese. Enjoy.

All cheeses were samples for review.Follow my wine reviews on Vivino and Delectable.

November 28, 2014

It’s the season of bubbles. Nearly a third of all sparkling wine sold each year enters our glasses during November and December, and in apparent defiance of demand-side economics, many retailers steeply discount the wine just as we prepare to ring in the New Year. There’s no better time to pop a cork.

Few of us drink sparkling wine throughout a meal (a pity), opting simply to pour it at the cocktail hour with crispy snacks and canapés. Some sparkling wine boosters steer clear of the cheese board, though, believing the palate-coating milkfat obfuscates the wine’s delicate sensibilities.

These are not my people. I love the contrast between the wine’s glistering acidity and the cheese’s creamy paste, the juxtaposition of aromas and textures and temperatures. Cheeses are set out to temper before serving, while sparkling wines are chilled way down—somewhere between 40°F and 45°F. The pairing of soothing-creamy-cheesy against icy-prickly-bubbly is an object lesson in complementarity.

But do choose your wines wisely. Sparklers made in the traditional method, with secondary fermentation in the bottle, usually have more structure and savoriness than tank-method wines, giving them enough oomph to pair with flavorful, savory foods. Bottle age adds a vein of nuttiness, too, which echoes the notes in aged cheeses. Try late-disgorged or vintage sparklers, or, for a scintilla of vintage wine complexity sans vintage wine pricing, buy well-made Brut and lay it down for a year or two.

Rosé sparkling wines made from Pinot Noir often have fruit notes that play the same role as the juicy berries on a cheese plate. Ditto wines made from floral grapes like Muscat. And both white and rosé wines that have some sweetness pair beautifully with many salty foods. Look for labels that say sec, demi-sec, or doux (French Champagne or Crémant); amabile or dolce (Italian metodo classico); or semi-seco or dulce (Spanish Cava). Or just plain Off-dry.

Choose your cheeses wisely, too. Cheeses with delicate flavors and smooth, creamy textures seem to work best. In particular, try fresh, soft, and bloomy-rind cheeses made from cow’s milk, like Brie, Camembert, Brillat-Savarin, triple crème, or Chaource. Similar styles made from sheep’s or goat’s milk also work, although their more pronounced flavors render the pairing less congruous, more complicated (and possibly more interesting).

Harder cheeses are terrific with sparkling wines that have some bottle age. Try Gruyère, Comté, Bel Paese, Edam, or young Manchego—any cheese with a medium-firm paste and mild, nutty flavor. I find moldy-veined cheeses (Roquefort, Stilton, Gorgonzola) too punguent and assertive for all but the most savory sparkling wines. Still, the aromatic (some might say stinky) washed-rind cheeses like Taleggio, Livarot, or Époisses do work well because their insides are so much tamer than their outsides.

Below are ten great méthode traditionnelle sparkling wines from recent tastings. Even if you can’t find these particular labels, you’ll see many similar styles on shelves right now. I’ve also suggested a cheese to try with each wine. Could you serve it with any cheese? Sure. But consider this a starting point to explore what works best for you. Becuase it’s not just the season of bubbles—it’s the season of bubbles and cheese.

NV Gloria Ferrer Va de Vi Méthode Traditionnelle Sonoma County12.5% abv | $22 (sample)This cuvée of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Muscat has a charming pinkish-gold color and aromas of yeasty pear and pome fruits. A copious mousse delivers a mouthful of ripe Bosc pear and yellow peach. Coating and off-dry, it’s a flowery bouquet of a wine with abundant fruit but a finishing zap of zesty lime. Pair it with Casatica di Buffala, a semi-aged water buffalo’s milk cheese from Northern Italy. This salty, mild, very rich cheese is a perfect foil for the wine’s coy sweetness.

NV Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs Méthode Traditionnelle Carneros12.5% abv | $22 (sample)Pale rose gold with copious medium-coarse foam. Aromas of strawberries and melon mingle with nutty toast; the wine spent one and a half years en tirage, imbuing it with leesy savoriness. Coarse on the palate with flavors of strawberry and kiwi, this is a fruit-driven wine, not overly dry, but its acidity is balancing. The wine’s lovely color derives from some cold-soaked vin gris of Pinot Noir added to the must. Taste it with Brie or other bloomy-rind cow’s milk cheese. The wine will act like strawberries on a cheese plate—juicy and delicious after a bite of creamy Brie.

NV Anna de Codorníu Blanc de Blancs Cava12% abv | $15 (sample)Clean pale yellow with copious bubbles, the wine opens with aromas of biscuit and nut, and it’s pleasantly round on the palate, with big fruit and a lemony finish. Glittery acidity and a medium-coarse texture make the wine feel both spritely and cleansing. Pour it with Gruyère; the nuttiness of the cheese will complement the toasty aging notes in the wine.

NV Anna de Codorníu Brut Rosé Cava12% abv | $15 (sample)Rosy tourmaline color with fine but copious bubbles. The nose has notes of pink berries and a touch of bread, and there are flavors of strawberries and guava with a citrus-juice finish. Robust mousse adds pleasant refreshment. Pair with Manchego, preferably a younger style. A fruity Pinot Noir rosé is great with salty cheeses—plus, this wine and that cheese grew up together in Spain.

NV Berlucchi Cuvée 61 Brut Franciacorta DOCG12.5% abv | $35 (sample)Spirited and fresh, this Chardonnay-dominant Brut is pale, clear yellow with bracing citrus, pome fruit, and fresh biscuit aromas. The sparkling texture and limey finish give it a racy final impression. Pair it with Taleggio or other washed-rind cow’s milk cheese. The cheese’s earthy redolence and silky texture play beautifully with this brisk and buoyant wine.

NV Berlucchi Cuvée 61 Rosé Franciacorta DOCG12.5% abv | $35 (sample)A gorgeous rosé Franciacorta with boistrous foam that subsides in aromas of toasty biscuit, tart cranberry, field strawberry, and bread. Extremely elegant and spritely, but with a savory note from a bit of bottle age (it was disgorged in 2013). Try it with Camembert. The creamy, nutty complexity of the cheese will beautifully match the wine’s laciness and fine details.

NV J Vineyards and Winery J Cuvée 20 Brut Sonoma County 12.5% abv | $28 (sample)A blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with a tiny drop of Pinot Meunier, this méthode traditionnelle sparkler spent two years en tirage and six months in bottle after disgorgement. Its fine bubbles deliver yeasty, toasty brioche aromas that mingle with tart green apple and mandarin orange. Fruit-driven but dry, the body offers a creamy palate topped with juicy citrus acidity and lime peel snap. Pair it with fresh or bloomy-rind goat cheese. The lime-citrus notes will play beautifully against the cheese’s piquancy.

NV J Vineyards and Winery J Cuvée 20 Brut Rosé Sonoma County 12.5% abv | $38 (sample)Lovely coral pink. Yeasty, toasty, and elegant; aromatically more elaborate than the Brut. Complex secondary aromas of nut, earth, and almost-truffle add depth and dimension. The body is ample and creamy, and the red fruit notes feel demure. What dominates is spritely ruby citrus acidity, a savory mid-palate, and a multifaceted, almost paisley finishing impression. Try it with Winnimere or Harbison (from Jasper Hill Farm) or a Bergfichte from Switzerland. These soft cow’s milk cheeses are wrapped in bark, imbuing them with an earthy, forest redolence. Truly, a wide range of soft and hard cheeses, even truffled cheese, would pair well with J’s savory Brut Rosé. This wine was made for cheese.

November 25, 2013

September landed me in Trento, Italy, a guest of renowned sparkling wine producer, Ferrari. Their wines are magnificent (on which more later), but the trip wasn’t all bubbles. Ferrari also treated our group of twenty sommeliers, wine buyers, and wine writers to educational sessions on the region’s long history as the kettle of Italian mountain viticulture and victuals.

That’s what brought Alvaro Giuliani to Ferrari’s ancient Alpine palace, Villa Margon. Giuliani is proprietor of Bottega Trentina, a specialty purveyor of regional cheeses, salumi, condiments, and wines in the center of Trento. He hefted a wheel of Trentingrana—also known as Grana Trentino—onto a table in Margon’s loggia, and proceeded to open the cheese.

Open? You could say cut, but the process is more ceremonial than mechanical. Trentingrana is to Trento as Parmigiano-Reggiano is to Parma, viz., the region’s signature hard-aged grating cheese. This one was minted in December 2011 (see the mark above: “DIC 11”), so its exodus from the cellar was something of a coming out.

First, Giuliani took a hooked scoring knife in hand:

—and proceeded to scribe a deep line around the cheese’s equator, bisecting its “Trentino” hallmark:

Next, Giuliani thrust three chisel-shaped knives deep into the belly of the wheel, spacing them at equal intervals:

After a few minutes, the rind began to crack open at the score, and with a little extra push from Giuliani, at last the wheel split in two at its meridian:

We gathered close to the sniff the cheese’s first exhale, a breath of savory, nutty redolance from its umami-rich core:

It smelled like a beautiful, lees-aged sparkling wine—just like Ferrari’s wonderful Trentodocs, which have a gorgeous savory aspect. Is it any wonder this wine, and this cheese, pair so beautifully?

November 08, 2013

Late autumn, and harvest is done. We have at last conceded our fate and moved indoors. It’s time to lay a fire in the hearth, light the oven, and excavate the stew pot, roasting pans, and baking dishes from the dark recesses of our cupboards. It’s time to cook comfort food.

The traditional Thanksgiving meal is comfort food’s quintessence, a celebration of cooking. (There are few raw foods on the Thanksgiving table—at least in my house.) And because it’s also a collective sigh of gratitude for our good fortune, the meal is ablaze with a spectrum of flavors:

Given such variety, it’s no wonder we get flummoxed when choosing wine for the meal. No single wine pairs perfectly with all of these flavors, although some can bridge multiple dishes. Off-dry Riesling’s one good example, plus Pinot Noir and gamay-based Beaujolais. Sparkling wines almost always work, too. That’s why these wines are traditional recommendations.

But there’s no need to stick to one wine, or a single white and red. Pouring a range of wines will delightfully echo the theme of abundance and provide diners options with the medley of flavors on the table.

Here are a few recommendations to guide your wine planning:

Consider the style of your gathering. Nuanced wines, such as older vintages or delicate whites, can get drowned out by a boisterous party. You want wines with enough oomph to stand up to robust flavors—and robust discussion.

Keep alcohol levels low so diners stay alert—this is especially important if your meal is served mid-day. Look for wines at or below 13% alcohol.

Consider serving local or American wines to echo the theme of the holiday. Hard ciders, ales, and mead, especially from regional sources, are terrific with harvest foods.

Avoid highly extracted, jammy red wines, which can feel too heavy with a big meal, and tannic reds like Bordeaux, which can overwhelm poultry and vegetable dishes. When choosing reds, stick with light-bodied wines with good acidity.

Below are the wine styles I think work most beautifully with the Thanksgiving meal. I’ve noted the foods with which each pairs best, listing traditional recommendations and some alternatives to try. If you’re receptive to offering a range of wines, consider buying one of each style, then seeing which ones diners prefer. Specific wines in bold are my top picks:

SPARKLING WINES are cleansing, refreshing, and celebratory. They pique the appetite, and bubbles scrub the palate between bites. Often low in alcohol, they’re great starter wines some will choose to enjoy throughout the meal. Blanc de Noirs Champagne is terrific with poultry. Bubbly also pairs beautifully with hors d’oeuvres, buttery pastries, and vegetable sides. TRADITIONAL : Champagne ALTERNATIVE : Crémant d’Alsace, Cava, Trentodoc, Franciacorta, Prosecco

WINES WITH SWEETNESS are harmonious. They integrate well with squash, yams, cornbread, and other sweet dishes, and balance salty ones like gratins and cheeses. Perceived sweetness comes from actual residual sugar in the wine, but floral and fruit aromatics can give a similar impression. TRADITIONAL : Off-dry Riesling, Gewürztraminer ALTERNATIVE : Viognier, Malvasia Bianca, Muscat/Moscato, Lambrusco

ROSÉS are refreshing. They offer lively acidity but more pronounced body than white wines, letting them stand up to richer flavors. Their berry flavors make them great with roasted poultry, vegetable dishes, and vegetarian fare, and also cut the richness of cream and butter-based dishes. They’re terrific with fruit relishes and other tangy sides, too. TRADITIONAL : Provence rosé ALTERNATIVE : Pinot Noir rosé, Grenache or Rhône-style rosé, Orange wines

October 28, 2013

I don’t mean the gustatory disappointment of the ubiquitous “wine and cheese reception,” that gallery opening, poetry reading, or English department soirée where you nibble cubes of rubbery Swiss and sip supermarket Pinot Grigio from a plastic cup.

I mean those other times, when you serve wine with cheese to light off a celebratory meal or draw it to a glittering close. You set out a platter of fine cheeses and pull the cork on a good bottle, then wonder why some flavors seem off—sour or weird or just plain flat. Doesn’t wine go well with cheese?

Well, yes—and no, but only because there’s not just one kind of wine and one kind of cheese. Wines range in acidity, complexity, weight, and savoriness. Some have floral or citrus notes or seem almost briny. Some are heavily textured, fruity, or tawny. Yet others feel chiseled and dark, even severe. Age adds another layer of complexity, too.

The same goes for cheese. They vary in moisture content, fat content, mouthfeel, flavor intensity. Fresh young goat cheese is quite acidic, with grassy-herbal notes and a chalky texture. Contrast that with aged Gouda, a cow’s milk cheese that acquires nutty, savory notes and a gritty texture from its long repose in the cave. The former cheese is delicate and tangy, while the latter is an umami-bomb. We call them both “cheese,” but they’re as different as pork loin and bacon.

When each element—the cheese and the wine—has such a distinctive personality, making a good match gets tricky. Some wines go well with cow’s milk cheese, but not with goat. Some pair with aged cheeses but swamp young ones. But when you do find a match that’s felicitous, and the wine and cheese bloom together on your tongue: bliss.

The Experts’ Take

One of my favorite wine and food pairing guides, “What to Drink With What You Eat,” dedicates eleven pages to cheese and wine matchmaking. Authors Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page interviewed sommeliers, cheesemongers, and maîtres fromagers, plucking their tastiest tidbits of advice. The entry runs the cheese gamut from Alt Urgell to Zamarano, and best pairings are highlighted in bold: Rioja with Manchego, Champagne with Brie, Port with Stilton, Vin Jaune with Vacherin, and on and on.

Cheese purveyors also offer tastings, classes, and other free guides to help customers learn to make best matches. Murray’s Cheese in New York City has a vibrant educational program. “We put a lot of effort into selecting and aging cheeses,” says Sascha Anderson, director of e-commerce, “and we want to be sure they continue to taste great—or taste even better—with what people are drinking.”

Murray’s website lists pairing recommendations for every cheese. Buying a Brie Fermier? Try Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, farmhouse ales, or hard cider. A separate online pairing guide takes the opposite tack, starting with the wine. Pouring a Chenin Blanc from the Loire? This crisp white with appley fruit notes and a hint of herbs loves tangy goat cheese. And if you can find a goat cheese from the Loire, tant mieux; Murray’s guide echoes the oft-heard refrain, “What grows together goes together.”

That pairing principle—terroir—is helpful but can also be a little misleading, cautions Anderson. After all, “Not all French wine goes with all French cheese!” she says. But you can learn a lot simply by looking at gastronomic customs in a region, because the tastiest pairings persist. Vin Jaune, a wine from Jura, has been served with the region’s Comté cheese for centuries, so “you can be pretty sure they’ll go together,” says Anderson.

Artisanal Premium Cheese Company, also of New York City, has developed a clever kit called the CheeseClock. Cheese styles from mild to medium, bold, and strong are arrayed around a circular “clock,” along with appropriate beverage pairings. Artisanal packages sixteen of its most popular cheeses in boxes color-coordinated with the clock’s four quadrants. That way, a customer can see just by glancing at the package that a Brillat-Savarin is “mild,” while a two-year cheddar is “bold,” and use the clock to find a wine to pair.

And vice versa. Artisanal’s coordinating wine bottle tags let shopkeepers flag appropriate wines. That way even if no staff person’s available, a customer can be sure she’s making a good match. Not surprisingly, the CheeseClock has led to an uptick in sales of both wine and cheese at the shops that are using it. Dan Dowe, Artisanal’s CEO, reports, “Customers say, ‘You’ve given me a structure on which I can now build.’”

A Bit of Background

But what is that structure, exactly? How can we learn to make a good match when no expert or reference guide is handy? The key lies in understanding what contributes to the flavor profile of both wine and cheese.

First let’s tackle cheese. Fresh and young cheeses have a high moisture content, because the water in the milk hasn’t yet had a chance to evaporate. High water content means delicate flavors. As a cheese ages, it slowly loses water, leaving behind fat and protein. (People think of Brie as a fatty cheese, but it actually has less fat, ounce per ounce, than aged cheddar, because Brie’s gooey goodness is largely water.) The loss of water concentrates the cheese’s flavor, and the aging process, called affinage, imparts new flavors, too. Hard-aged cheeses have the least water and the strongest flavors.

As we’ve noted, aging affects wines’ flavors, too. Young wines—white and rosé released within a year of their harvest, and red wines with little time in the cellar—tend to be spirited, fruit-driven, fresh, and juicy. But wines that have aged in cask and bottle before release have had a chance to develop secondary flavors beyond those of fruit and fermentation, notes of oak, toast, earth, umami, oxidation, and more. These wines tend to be more complex and savory.

Putting It All Together

Since fresh cheeses retain their youthful, milky qualities, they need wines that are youthful and spirited, too, to make their flavors shine. Best choices for young cheeses are crisp whites and rosés with apple, stone fruit, tropical, citrus, or melon flavors; light reds like the gamay-based Beaujolais; and sparkling wines, even those with some sweetness.

Meanwhile, moderately aged cheeses, like Edam, Havarti, or Emmental, have developed some complexity, but remain smooth and mild tasting. That makes them partner best with wines that, like them, have some complexity but retain refreshing acidity: oak-aged whites, fruit-driven but aged reds, and oxidative styles like Sherry.

Aged hard cheeses need wines with oomph to balance their dense, salty, and very savory flavors. They work best with earthier wines with big, ample structure, meaning those with some tannin. That’s because tannins bind protein and fat, essentially scrubbing the palate clean after every bite. A tannic red will feel too astringent and drying after a bite of fresh cheese, because it ties up whatever butterfat is available, leaving you with a chalky, unpleasant sensation. But after a bite of rich cheese, it’ll feel beautifully refreshing.

We’ve seen that essentially, successful wine and cheese pairing boils down to this maxim:

Pair by flavor intensity—which often correlates with age.

In other words, pair younger cheeses with bright, fresh, young wines; older cheeses with bigger, aged wines; and cheeses in between with a wide range of wines, from youthful to vibrant, but stopping shy of the biggest, boldest reds.

Perfect Pairings

Below I’ve broken cheese-dom into three main categories, from fresh through hard-aged. Example cheeses are in the left column, and example wines that’ll pair well with any of those cheeses are in the right column:

If you must pick a single wine to match an array of cheeses, err on the side of acidity, and sparkling wines can readily fit the bill. “They have that nice acid backbone, and the bubbles will physically lift cheese off your palate,” says Sascha Anderson, of Murray’s. But seek out sparklers with moderate intensity. Blanc de noirs Champagne’s a good choice, as are Ferrari’s exquisite late-disgorged Trentodoc metodo classico sparkling wines, which have savory notes that are also supremely food- (and cheese-) friendly. Off-dry wines can also pair quite broadly: Riesling or Gewürztraminer, Lambrusco, and lighter dessert wines.

So next time you’re leaning over the cheese case and pondering what to pour, remember to pair by intensity—and by age. Then take a bite, and a sip: bliss.